Stores & Riots

[steps]

I feel a lot of looters are taking advantage of the situation regarding the REAL reason for the protests. Majority of looters don't care of the reason, it's just an opportunity to act a fool and get free merchandise.

Add that to being basically "locked down" inside for 3 months only makes matters worse.

This will be a turning point for a lot of retailers going forward. It may be beneficial to them justifying not re-opening a looted store and getting the insurance money. This may work in their favor and they might not even be too concerned about these stores getting destroyed.

[storewanderer]

I feel a lot of looters are taking advantage of the situation regarding the REAL reason for the protests. Majority of looters don't care of the reason, it's just an opportunity to act a fool and get free merchandise.

Add that to being basically "locked down" inside for 3 months only makes matters worse.

This will be a turning point for a lot of retailers going forward. It may be beneficial to them justifying not re-opening a looted store and getting the insurance money. This may work in their favor and they might not even be too concerned about these stores getting destroyed.

I think a lot of insurance policies do not cover losses from rioting. In some of these cases this may be a total loss to the retailer and property owner.

A lot of Target's new small format stores were, quite literally "Targets." I wonder if they will re-evaluate these smaller low volume inner city type stores going forward in light of not only this situation but the upcoming workplace changes in the big cities, which is likely going to remove a chunk of "worker" traffic from these inner city locations.

[klkla]

NewPark in nearby Newark, California is now being looted. The looters are moving from city to city. The news coverage is encouraging more people to come out and loot the malls. Shopping malls are being overtaken left and right. There are fires, shootings, and looters fighting each other. I am afraid to go back to work tomorrow.

You may be right about the news coverage. Today there was some looting at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica but witnesses have reported that the looters came in separate cars in groups and were not the actual protesters. My guess is that this is what is happening there too. Groups are forming to take advantage of the pandemonium.

[Alpha8472]

Target will abandon high risk urban neighborhoods. We will see Target retreat from cities with large low income populations. In the end, even Walmart will want to close their stores in these impoverished areas. They also will retreat to safe suburban locations with higher incomes. However, even with a retreat to the suburbs, the thugs will drive out to the rich suburbs and rob those stores too. We may see more food deserts where no grocery store wants to open up.

The only way this can be stopped is if those people get back to work and the number of unemployed low income people goes down. The schools are closed, so there are bands of juveniles that are also participating in the lootings. We may have to consider reopening the schools to keep the juveniles occupied.

The remaining stores that are willing to stay open in these neighborhoods will have to fortify their stores like bunkers. The windows should all be blocked off and sealed over. The doors should have layers of thick steel gates. The fire exits should be reinforced. Pharmacies should have bullet resistant and smash resistant plexiglass. This will cost money at first, but it will pay for itself when it deters looting.

I tried to call Walgreens today. They were closed and the phone directed me to a call center when an employee said that most of their stores are closed nationwide. Walgreens stores are boarded up because Walgreens is afraid of being looted. This is going to cause a medical crisis as there is no place to get drugs. The only place to get drugs will be to order from an online pharmacy and wait days for drugs to arrive.

[Alpha8472]

Sadly the riots have hit home. My workplace has been destroyed and I am out of work for who knows how long. Well, I have been wanting a vacation from work for many years. If my house survives the night, tomorrow will be a good day.

[storewanderer]

Sadly the riots have hit home. My workplace has been destroyed and I am out of work for who knows how long. Well, I have been wanting a vacation from work for many years. If my house survives the night, tomorrow will be a good day.

Maybe pharmacy will run through a trailer during the repair process. Not ideal- but keeps it running.

[Alpha8472]

A Walmart in San Leandro, California was set on fire. Numerous shootings and home break ins in the immediate area. Looters are attacking residential homes now. Lock your doors.

[TW-Upstate NY]

A lot of malls were in trouble before the virus and now adding civil unrest to the mix may just convince some mall owners to close completely and just bulldoze some properties. Because like you say some stores may just decide it isn't worth it to continue in these locations and a mall property without rent paying tenants is basically worthless to mall owners. And especially in Ca., vacant land is sometimes worth exponentially more than the properties themselves especially if, as in the case of Safeway for example, they've owned the land for decades. And as an aside, we've talked a LOT on here the past few months about how we couldn't buy this or that product and then when we were able to secure even a limited quantity of whatever product(s) we could, we come on here and brag about it. Right now, that all seems so irrelevant.

[klkla]

A lot of malls were in trouble before the virus and now adding civil unrest to the mix may just convince some mall owners to close completely and just bulldoze some properties. Because like you say some stores may just decide it isn't worth it to continue in these locations and a mall property without rent paying tenants is basically worthless to mall owners. And especially in Ca., vacant land is sometimes worth exponentially more than the properties themselves especially if, as in the case of Safeway for example, they've owned the land for decades. And as an aside, we've talked a LOT on here the past few months about how we couldn't buy this or that product and then when we were able to secure even a limited quantity of whatever product(s) we could, we come on here and brag about it. Right now, that all seems so irrelevant.

I remember the Rodney King riots. After that was over Los Angeles created a Community Redevelopment Agency that gave tons of tax breaks and other incentives to encourage the construction of new shopping centers and stores. Off the top of my head I remember the Lucky on Crenshaw Blvd. (now an Albertsons), The Albertsons on La Brea Ave in L.A. (now a Superior Grocers), the Vons in Inglewood, a shopping center with a Food4Less, RiteAid and Home Depot between Wilshire and 6th in the Pico-Union district and a Ralphs adjacent to the historic Wiltern Theater in KTown that were built as a result. All of them are still operating to this day. I'm sure there were lots of others. I would expect something like that to happen around here if there is a lot of damage. It's important to note that the amount of damage so far is very small compared to the Rodney King riots or the Martin Luther King riots from the 60's.

[Alpha8472]

The looters at this time seem to be targeting high priced items. They want electronics, televisions, expensive clothes, etc. Groceries are not the thing they are after.

FoodMaxx was not looted while Best Buy was looted.

The Rodney King riots was destruction that was more local. For example tearing up their own neighborhood businesses. Now it is "Target the rich."